Leah Wong

The Holidazzle Village is back open Tuesday after a water main break closed the village on Monday. But that’s not the only fix they’ve had to make since opening a few weeks ago. The Holidazzle Village is drawing crowds of people into downtown Minneapolis, according to Leah Wong from the Minneapolis Downtown Council. “Weekend attendance is amazing and we’re seeing a nice flow throughout the week as well,” Wong said.

If you take a stroll along Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, there’s a feeling of Christmas in the air. The Minneapolis Holiday Market in Peavey Plaza has more than 30 huts, with local and international vendors selling everything from candles to candies, as well as brats and beer.

James from Apple Valley and Anna from Sartell wanted to know: When did Black Friday start? According to BlackFriday.com, the term “Black Friday” was coined back in the 1960s, but it was really 1924 – the first year of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – that the day after Thanksgiving became the unofficial start to the Christmas shopping season. Early on, when the term was coined in 1961, it had a negative connotation because Philadelphia Police used it to describe the traffic jams and clogged sidewalks of that day. But, by the 1980s, the idea of the Friday after Thanksgiving putting the retailers back in the black (or profitable) started to take hold.

It’s one of the most family-friendly events of the holiday season, and it kicks off on Friday as the annual Holidazzle parade kicks off in downtown Minneapolis. It’s a bittersweet year as it will be the final season of the Holidazzle in Minneapolis.